


Graveyards and Libraries

by Maple



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Highlander: The Series
Genre: Gen, Libraries, Quote Challenge, everyone has demon problems, graveyard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-08
Updated: 2011-08-08
Packaged: 2017-10-22 09:38:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/236656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maple/pseuds/Maple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam Pierson gets some research help from Willow. He's looking into solutions for his "friend" who has a demon problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Graveyards and Libraries

**Author's Note:**

> Set early on in the Buffy-verse, and around the time of the AAA arc in Highlander.
> 
> Written in response to a quote challenge, the quotes being: "Napping among the dead was one thing; napping among the recently interred was another." Take A Thief by Mercedes Lackey; "She always felt pleasure at being in a library; it gave her a sense of being in touch with the past and the future at the same time, for here was the knowledge of the past being transmitted through the present to the future." The Monk Who Vanished by Peter Tremayne.

"Will? Willow?"

The voice finally pierced her slumbering mind, and Willow blinked her eyes open.

"So you are awake," Buffy teased. "And not just really, really intensely studying that book."

Willow lifted her head. She'd fallen asleep reading again. Hopefully, this time she didn't have an entire chapter reverse inked on her cheek. Not chic. "Oh," she yawned. "That happens way more frequently than it should. What time is it?" She glanced up towards the skylight, where the sky was the hazy blue-grey of late twilight. Given a few more minutes and it would be fully nightfall.

Buffy glanced at the clock on the wall. "Five?" She frowned. "Will, have you been here all day? It's Saturday! You know, the day you're supposed to do fun, non-studious type stuff?"

"Five o'clock?" Willow repeated. "Oh no!" She pushed the chair back and stood up. "Buffy! Oh no, I'm late. I'm late."

"Whoa. Hold on there, white rabbit. Late for what?"

"I was supposed to meet him an hour ago. In the cemetery. What if he's still there? It's dark now. We gotta go find him."

"Meet who?" Buffy asked, suspiciously.

"Adam," Willow replied. "You know. The chat room guy? The one from my demon research list?"

"And he's in the cemetery why?"

"We were supposed to meet there. We had a little experiment we wanted to try. But I fell asleep. And what if he's still there waiting?"

"Oh," Buffy said, realizing the seriousness of the situation. "And he's hanging out at vampire central." Buffy grabbed Willow's arm and pulled her towards the door.

"Tell me again why you were meeting some strange guy you met over the internet in a cemetery?" Buffy admonished as they hurried towards the graveyard.

"It was supposed to be during the day. And we needed to try a spell on consecrated ground."

"Still. Strange guy. Internet. Brrr." Buffy gave an exaggerated shudder.

"I know. But he seemed so nice on line. And he really needed some help."

As they entered the grounds, Buffy motioned for Willow to stay behind her. "Stay close." She pulled out a stake. "Any place specific?"

Willow motioned to one corner of the grounds. "Over there."

Buffy raised an eyebrow.

"Well," Willow supplied, "it has the nicest monuments. All new and shiny."

The cemetery seemed peaceful and still. Buffy glanced around, scanning for any undead trouble. She gave a short laugh when her gaze fell on the area surrounding one of the plots.

"I think we've found our man," she whispered, pointing.

Willow followed the gesture, felt first a rush of relief that Adam hadn't already been attacked by any local baddies, and started giggling herself.

A youngish looking man dozed propped up against a scroll worked gravestone, head lolling off to one side onto the newly replaced dirt of the grave.

Buffy grinned. "Napping among the dead is one thing; napping among the recently interred is another." She grew a little more serious. "This is him, right?"

"I think so," Willow replied. "At least, I don't see anyone else hanging out around here. Oh, I mean, except for us that is."

"All part of the Slayer responsibility package. Lots of quality time in the graveyards." Buffy strode forward and nudged the sleeping man with her toe. "Morning, sunshine!"

The man blinked awake almost instantaneously, getting to his feet. "Oh, um, excuse me. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to, um…." His words trailed off as he tried to brush the dirt from his long coat, not realizing that he had a sizeable smudge of dirt on his cheek and nose. "I was waiting for someone," he concluded, in a friendly English accent.

"Adam Pierson?" Willow asked.

Adam tilted his head in acknowledgement. "Yes. You must be Willow."

"Yep. That's me. I'm really sorry about the whole tardy thing," Willow apologized. "And this is Buffy."

"Hi-ya," Buffy said and shook the offered hand.

"It's very nice to meet you both," Adam said politely, then turned to Willow. "I know it is late now, too late to do the exercise here that we'd planned, but could we still sit down and chat about the research?"

"Oh, right." Willow nodded, remembering why she and Adam had decided to meet in the first place. "Demon research. Sure. We should go, though. I mean, we should talk somewhere else. Since it's dark and all. The library is just a few blocks away." She gestured down the street.

"Look. Dinner!" A new voice called from a few yards away. "I didn't realize I'd called for delivery."

Buffy's attention went to the three vampires grouped together. "Will. Take Adam and get to the library. I'll meet you there."

"Be careful, Buffy." Willow started to turn to Adam, wondering what the best way was to convince him that they were under attack by real vampires and that Buffy was a Slayer who was about to inflict major damage. But when she turned she realized that a fourth vampire had snuck up behind them and was holding Adam from behind, about to bite him.

"Buffy!" She called, but a quick glance told her that Buffy was already busily engaged in trading blows.

Adam gave a sharp elbow to the vampire followed by a quick sweep of his foot. The vampire tumbled backwards, off balance but not really hurt.

Adam grabbed Willow by the upper arm. "Come on," he ordered. Then he murmured to himself, "Need to get off Holy Ground. Can't fight here."

They started to run towards the perimeter fence. Adam kept Willow in front of him.

Willow had scrambled over the fence and onto the sidewalk when she realized that Adam wasn't right next to her. "Buffy!" She yelled again, and started to climb back over the fence.

The sneaky fourth vampire had recovered and had caught Adam just before the wrought iron barrier. "Yum," he taunted before giving Adam a vicious bite to the throat.

Buffy dusted the last of the three vampires that she'd been dealing with and sprinted towards Adam.

"Hey!" Buffy grabbed the shoulder of the vampire, hauled him around and staked him neatly in the heart. "Do your grocery shopping elsewhere." The vampire burst into a cloud of dust.

Adam collapsed into a heap on the ground.

"You're gonna be okay," Buffy told him. "Just hold on. We'll get some help." She looked up at Willow, who was hovering right next to them.

Adam waved a hand. "No, no. I'm fine. He only had me for a second." He ran a hand over his face, then turned his attention to Buffy. "I take it those were vampires?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah. Welcome to Sunnydale. Look, I'll make with the explanations as soon as we're somewhere safe. Can you walk? We need to get away from here. Vampires really like cemeteries."

Adam gave a weak, bitter laugh. "It figures that vampires like to hunt on Holy Ground."

"Oh, they like to hunt just about anywhere, really," Buffy informed him.

Adam took a deep breath and got to his feet. "I'm fine now."

He wobbled a bit as they walked back towards the school. Willow kept glancing at Buffy, a worried expression on her face. Buffy kept a hand lightly on his elbow, concerned that he might fall over, but by the time they had reached the school he seemed recovered.

"Ah," Buffy quipped as they entered the library, "my inner sanctum."

"Yes. Libraries are always a good choice for that sort of thing," Adam said as he sat down at the center table. His eyes studied the books that Willow had left open earlier, obviously recognizing the content. He looked up at Willow. "This research was for me? Thank you," he finished quietly.

Buffy placed herself in front of him. "So what is all this research about, anyway? Exactly what do you need?"

"Buffy," Willow began warningly.

"No, Will. This is my turf. I should know." She gazed down at Adam.

Adam gave a wry smile. "I thought you were going to explain things first."

"Vampires exist. They like to bite. Staying away from cemeteries is a good thing. Your turn." Buffy kept her gaze level.

Adam looked to Willow for a moment, then down at the books. He paused for a long moment before speaking. "A friend of mine claims he is seeing a demon. And it is causing him to act very differently from the way he usually does. He…hurt someone. I didn't believe him and it didn't help matters."

"So, now you believe him and you want to see if there's someway to destroy the demon," Buffy finished for him. "Hmm. Sounds familiar."

Adam nodded. "Yes. Before things get even worse than they already are." He motioned to Willow. "We met online. Willow said she might be able to help. That she had a good research library at her disposal. So here I am."

"Okay, then," Buffy allowed. "Make with the research. But you did get chomped on, so first thing in the morning, we'll take a stroll outside in the bright, sunny daylight and see if you're combustible."

Adam's hand went to his neck. "Combustible?"

"Yeah. Couple ways to dust a vampire. Stake to the heart. Sunlight. Fire, in general. Decapitation."

Adam paled. "Promenade at daybreak it is, then. Good option."

"Yeah, I thought you'd pick that one."

"You sound as if you do this on a regular basis."

"You know how it is. Someone has to protect the general population." Buffy handed Willow a wooden stake and then started towards the door. "I've got to go patrol. Be back in a couple hours. If he gets fangy before I get back, stake him."

They watched her leave, then Willow slid onto the chair next to Adam, and pulled one of the books towards her. "Don't worry too much. Usually you have to die to turn into a vampire."

"Usually?"

Willow shrugged. "It's a learning process." She pointed to a passage in the book in front of her. "Now. I think I found some references to this specific demon you told me about."

Adam peered closely at the text. "What's this about a bowl?"

Willow reread the passage. "Hmm. It's referenced back to another book. Let me see if I can find that one." She got up and went to Giles' personal reference stacks.

As she ran her fingers over the spines, she thought about what she was doing. She had always felt pleasure at being in a library; it gave her a sense of being in touch with the past and the future at the same time, for here was the knowledge of the past being transmitted through the present to the future. And there was great use in that.

She peeked over to where Adam was sitting, books strewn about.

She'd helped Buffy find answers, fighting off the vampires and malevolent monsters. Now, she could help Adam find the resolution to his demon problems.

Well, she could help him, if she could find the right book.

She finally caught sight of the necessary volume and snagged it off the shelf. There were quite a few books to get through.  
*****

"Will? Adam?" Buffy groaned. "Come on, you two. It's morning."

Willow squinted into the light, feeling groggy and disorientated. She'd fallen asleep on top of the books again. "Not quite as comfortable as my bed at home. You'd think I'd remember that."

Adam yawned and stretched.

"Sorry I didn't make it back sooner. Lots of trouble to weed out last night." Buffy smiled and pointed to the ceiling. "Looks like you didn't go all toothy and hungry, Adam."

"I didn't think I would," Adam answered, some private humor in his voice. He grabbed a notebook and stuffed a few loose papers inside. "I need to get going. I really appreciate all your help." He turned to his research companion, eyes serious. "Willow, thank you for everything. If I can ever return the favor, don't hesitate to let me know."

Willow nodded.

"So, you found something to help?" Buffy asked. "What will you do now? Go help your friend destroy the demon?"

Adam rose to his feet. "It's a little complicated. But I can get this information to him. And it might make all the difference." Quietly, he turned and left.

Buffy sighed. "He was cute."

"Yeah," Willow agreed. "And on the plus side, he wasn't a vampire, werewolf, or cursed."

"Yeah, but his friend's got demon problems."

"I guess there's always some kind of catch."

They were quiet for a moment, each thinking their own thoughts.

"Come on, Will," Buffy said, catching at her friend's sleeve and giving a tug. "It's Sunday. Let's go do something that doesn't involve anything supernatural. No research for a whole day."

"Sure," Willow replied. "Only, maybe a little research wouldn't be so bad. Like, whether rocky road fudge is better than peanut butter fudge."

"As if. Not fudge. Ice cream."

They laughed while leaving the library and walked out into the sunshine.


End file.
